Stage 2 - Tuesday, March 8: Aigueperse - Thiers, 46.5 km

Boonen doubles up in 53 minute long stage

Paris-Nice race organiser Christian Prudhomme of ASO was impressed by Tom Boonen
when he saw him winning two stages and the GC in the Tour of Picardy last year,
and once again during the Tour of Qatar earlier this year. He predicted "at
least" one win from the Belgian prodigy on the roads supposedly "to the sun"
but he already welcomed two of them. Boonen also claimed the yellow jersey thanks
to the bonus seconds given on the finishing line.

Erik Dekker now lies in second, but he increased his lead on his big rival
for the overall win, Jens Voigt of CSC. The Dutchman won the only hot spot sprint
of this stage that was finally held on a 46.5 km course, covered in less than
one hour: 53'31 for an amazing average speed of 52.13 km/h! Dekker's Rabobank
team was no stranger to this speed, since the orange house rode flat out from
the gun and surprised a few riders. It was actually a fantastic spectacle to
see a never ending lead out till the only climb of the day, the côte de Podime,
whose summit was located 6.5km away from the end of the stage.

Some riders were victims of the high speed. Among them, French champion Thomas
Voeckler lost contact for a little while. He struggled to get back on with the
help of three Bouygues Telecom team-mates, then he was smart enough to find
his position in the first part of the peloton again. That was the only place
to be on this rough day.

In-form Luxembourg champion Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo) paid a lot of attention
to being able to take his chance on the climb. He attacked strongly and was
joined by Voigt. Alejandro Valverde's brutal effort to close the gap was hopeless
since the peloton wasn't far behind on the summit, but the Spaniard confirmed
that he's a serious contender for the overall win. "I'm not a kamikaze, that's
why my only possibility of trying something today was in the hill," Kirchen
said. "I believe my best option for a win is the stage up to the Mont Faron
where I had a good ride at the Tour of the Mediterranean."

"The final 4km were absolutely crazy," eventual winner Boonen commented. "Fortunately
I was always behind Kevin Hulsmans, we never had any chance to talk to each
other, but we knew what we had to do. There wasn't any need for a briefing before
the start. I watched a DVD in the bus for relaxation on the way to the real
start of the race. We knew that a shortened stage was a great opportunity for
me to take both stage win and the lead. My Quick Step team did a great job staying
in front with Rabobank all the time, and in doing so, we didn't have to be afraid
of any nasty surprises. Michael Rogers and Marc Lotz kept me up there in the
climb where I was 15th at the top, which was perfect. I'd love to have to race
only 46.5km every day until the finish in Nice!"

Questioned about whether the finale of this stage was something similar to
the Poggio in Milan-San Remo, he said, "Not at all! The Poggio comes after 285km
of racing."

Runner-up Erik Dekker isn't afraid of Boonen for the overall classification.
"But I couldn't do anything against him today," said Dekker. "I tried to get
away at the end but Hulsmans was always on my back. I couldn't defend my jersey
but I'm still satisfied because I now have six seconds advantage on Voigt."
He got 3 by winning the only hot spot sprint of the day, and 3 more because
there was a gap of more than one second between Valverde, 10th, and Sylvain
Chavanel, 11th, at the finishing line. The Cofidis new recruit was tired after
trying to break clear in the downhill in Thiers. He was mostly alone with 3km
to go, then Leon van Bon came across, but they got caught before the 1km to
go sign. The Frenchman may have lost a few teammates earlier on during that
stage, as well as his hopes for the overall win when he crashed the day before,
but his intentions to put his mark on the first important race of the year remain
undisputed.

One more day of Paris-Nice is threatened by the weather conditions. Jean-François
Pescheux, a member of the organisation company, was sent on the course of stage
3 to check the road. "We can't take any decision too early because the conditions
are changing so quickly, race organiser Prudhomme told Cyclingnews. "Our
priority is to have a stage finish every day, no matter how many kilometres
are covered before."

Only tomorrow morning, ASO and the race officials will decide which option
will be chosen between another shortened stage on the scheduled course or one
of the three alternative routes already considered for stage 3 due to the current
snowy conditions in the East part of France at the moment.